Computing devices including (a) portable media players (e.g., iPod), such as MP3 players, walkmans, etc., (b) portable computing devices, such as laptops, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), cell phones, portable email devices (e.g., Blackberry devices), thin clients, portable gaming devices (e.g., portable Playstation, Gameboy), etc., (c) standalone computing devices, such as personal computers (“PCs”), server computers, gaming platforms (e.g., Xbox) mainframes, etc., (d) consumer electronic devices, such as TVs, DVD players, set top boxes, monitors, displays, etc., (e) public computing devices, such as kiosks, in-store music sampling devices, automated teller machines (ATMs), cash registers, etc. and (f) non-conventional computing devices, such as kitchen appliances, motor vehicle controls (e.g., steering wheels), etc., all have one thing in common—other components such as peripherals, headphones, etc. can generally be attached to them to augment input or output characteristics of the computing device.
Often, such peripheral components include either a digital or analog cable, i.e., flexible or bendable signal carrying wire(s) with flexible insulation surrounding the wire(s), with an interface at one end that attaches to the computing device in order to transmit signals carried by the cable to the computing device (e.g., gaming controller signals to control an Xbox game, mouse input to a PC, microphone input to a recording device) and/or receive signals from the computing device to be carried on the cable to a user of the device in some fashion (e.g., display signals received at a monitor, “rumble” feedback received at a gaming controller, audio signals received at speakers).
For an example that can be readily appreciated, portable music players, such as MP3 players and the like, are often used with headphones, which include one or more speakers (usually two, with one for each ear). Headphones generally include an audio interface to the computing device for receiving an audio output signal from the computing device, which audio output signal is then carried over a cable integrated with the audio interface to speaker(s) integrated with the cable at the other end, which causes the speaker(s) of the headset in turn to vibrate at frequencies defined by the audio output signal.
In this regard, a very common behavior is for a user to don the headphones, start playback of a playlist (e.g., an album) by interacting with a user interface of the portable media player, and then to temporarily store the portable media player in a bag, a pocket, etc. while the listener continues with other tasks (e.g., commuting, exercising, shopping, working, etc.), while the cable dangles between the speakers at one end and the bag, pocket, etc. at the other end. However, during the course of these tasks, the user may need to adjust the playback characteristics, including but not limited to the following: Changing volume levels, Muting the volume, Pausing playback, and/or Skipping to the next track.
However, this typically turns out to be somewhat inconvenient. First, to state the obvious, a user must retrieve the device from his or her pocket, bag, etc., which can be inconvenient in and of itself if more than a trivial number things are co-stored with the device. Second, sometimes a user has “locked” the user interface of the portable media player in order to prevent inadvertent interaction with the user interface of the device during playback while it jostles around in the user's pocket, bag, etc. Thus, a user must next disengage any such lock. Then, the user must perform the desired interaction with the portable media player, re-engage any such lock on the user interface, and finally replace the portable media player in the user's bag, pocket, etc.
While such interaction with the device may seem trivial to achieve on a certain level, the truth is anytime the user must retrieve the player from the bag or pocket, interact with the device, and replace the player, such interaction necessarily interrupts any other tasks they are performing. The longer it takes to achieve the desired interaction, the longer the interruption. The more frequent a user needs to make a control adjustment of a pre-determined kind (e.g., volume control) to the device, the more intrusive such interruptions become. In today's complex and rich computing environments, in which emails, cell phone calls, notifications, etc. interrupt our lives enough, any unnecessary interruptions to our lives are simply unacceptable. In addition, the user may be distracted from another more important task (e.g., driving a motor vehicle, writing a novel), and the longer the distraction, the more likely it is that the other important task being performed by the user will be disrupted. For instance, the user may not pay enough careful attention to the task of driving, which can result in a potential disaster, or the user may lose his or her train of thought while writing a novel, which may take additional unknown time to retrieve due to the interruption.
Accordingly, what is needed is ways to effect such control without resorting to the main user interface control of the device itself. One prior art way of addressing this scenario in the headphones context is depicted in FIGS. 1A to 1C. FIG. 1A depicts a conventional set of headphones HP with speakers HP_SP1 and HP_SP2 for outputting sound to a listener. As shown, the speakers HP_SP1 and HP_SP2 are connected to a portable media player PMP via a cable HP_CBL. HP_CBL may be considered any one or more of the bendable signal carrying wires that carry audio signals from the portable media player PMP to the speakers HP_SP1 and HP_SP2. At the end of HP_CBL is a headphone audio interface HP_AI that is typically inserted into a mating interface on the portable media player PMP via the audio interface PMP_AI (not shown in any detail) of the portable media player PMP. As mentioned, to avoid having to directly interface with the main user interface PMP_MCI of the portable media player PMP, alternative, less intrusive techniques are desired.
FIGS. 1B and 1C show one way that this has been addressed in headphones by placing a user adjustable variable resistive component HP_VC for controlling volume of the device away from the computing device, which receives the audio signal being carried prior to its output and attenuates the signal in accordance with a user adjustable wheel. However, as shown in FIG. 1B, the resistive component HP_VC does not involve any interaction with the device PMP, which is agnostic as to the presence of the resistive component HP_VC. In addition, such a technique adds manufacturing overhead because it is an entirely separate component from the cable itself, i.e., to include such a resistive component HP_VC, the cable HP_CBL must be broken into two different cables HP_CBL1 and HP_CBL2. Moreover, once implemented, the functionality imparted by the resistive component HP_VC can never be changed, i.e., component HP_VC will always control the amplitude of the signal carried on HP_CBL1, attenuating the signal to a user-preferred level prior to re-transmitting the signal onto HP_CBL2.
FIG. 1C illustrates a scenario similar to FIG. 1B, except that the resistive component HP_VC is included in the speaker headset itself, e.g., into one of the speakers HP_SP2. While this avoids breaking the cable into two parts, the configuration of FIG. 1C otherwise suffers the same drawbacks. The component adds to manufacturing overhead for the headset, and its functionality is not customizable, i.e., once a volume control, always a volume control.
Thus, at bottom, what is needed is a way to interact with computing devices with respect to the tasks they perform and functionality they impart with minimal interruption. The status quo involves too much interruption, and thus less intrusive methods for interacting with computing devices are needed, especially for control input that is repeated frequently for the context of the device.